Bears vs. Vikings Game Balls: Caleb Shines Again, Set The Flus Loose

Who shined most in the loss to the Vikings?

The losing streak has reached five, and somehow, Matt Eberflus is still the head coach of the Chicago Bears.

Why? Well, because we don’t fire coaches midseason in Chicago. History! Tradition! We’ll see what Black Friday brings.

I could go on another rant about how bad Eberflus has been. Continued field goal issues (that’s on you, too, Richard Hightower). A soft as a baby’s a** defense throughout the second half and overtime. But what’s the point anymore?

Let’s look at the positives of the Bears’ overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Defense Game Ball: CB Kyler Gordon

Gordon earned his highest grade of the season from PFF in Sunday’s game (90.9).

Gordon had a nice play in the third quarter where he blew up a bubble screen to Aaron Jones. He shrugged off TJ Hockenson, who outweighs Gordon by over 50 pounds, to make this play.

Speaking of Hockenson, one of Gordon’s biggest plays of the game came with 12:00 left in the fourth quarter. With the Bears down 24-10, Gordon broke up a 4th and 1 pass intended for the Vikings TE. The Bears would eventually launch a seemingly miraculous comeback, only to lose the game OT. If Gordon allows the conversion to Hockenson, the Vikings probably go on to ice the game on that drive. Instead, the Bears scored after the turnover on downs and made things interesting.

Gordon finished with four tackles and two passes defended.

Offense Game Ball: QB Caleb Williams

I’ve written this before, but this may have been Williams’ best game as a pro so far. Especially given the level of the defense he was playing.

Several top QBs have played the Vikings this year, yet Williams is the only player to go for over 300 yards while throwing zero interceptions against them. And Caleb threw the ball 47 times in this game! He hasn’t thrown an interception since October 13, nearing in on 200 straight passes without turning it over. That’s incredible for a rookie.

(Jordan Love threw three interceptions against the Vikings earlier this season. Just wanted to point that out to the Packers fans who showed up in the comments last week. Hi guys!)

Caleb was once again good enough to win, despite taking a bad sack in OT. He continues to have ice in his veins in the fourth quarter, leading the team on a 40 yard scoring drive (thanks, D’Andre Carter) to pull them within three after a successful two point conversion, then throwing an absolutely perfect pass to DJ Moore to set up the game tying field goal following the onside kick recovery.

Williams went 32/47 for 340 yards, 2 touchdowns, no turnovers, and a 103.1 passer rating.

Special Teams Game Ball: Teven Jenkins

I’m giving this to Teven simply for the play below, where he bear-hugged two defenders on the game-tying field goal. This effort was incredible stuff.

Santos’ field goal was still within about an inch (or less) of being blocked as Jake Curhan and Matt Pryor were absolutely blown up on the left side once again. But Jenkins did the work of two men on this play.

Who would have received your game balls? Let us know in the comments section below.